Over the past couple of weeks I've been feeling really nostalgic about Thai Boxing. Sometimes known as the 'Science of 8 limbs', Muay Thai is arguably one of the toughest fight sports around. I didn't really know that when I signed up for it but I soon found out that in addition to punches and kicks, elbows and knees were completely legitimate techniques too - fabulous! I got into Muay Thai when I was in my second year at university, around 10 years ago (wow!). I went along to my first class with my friend, thinking I was going to 'kickboxing', not really fully understanding what that was either.

Little by little, I became dreadfully hooked on the beautiful, vicious art of the sport, the feeling of training so hard that you physically want to throw up while fully aware that you'll plunge yourself right back into it the next day, the attractive shade of blue that both of my legs inevitably turned and maybe even more importantly the feeling that the guys in your club were your new family.

We trained in a really dingy, smelly room in the university gym, which totally lacked any kind of ventilation. I vividly recall the lady Yoga instructor who often taught her class right after ours, turning up with a huge can of air freshener, frantically skooshing it around the room in the desperate hope of getting rid of the sour stench of Thai Boxer sweat. It was, of course, highly entertaining for us.

Ah, the good old days!

From a fitness perspective, I would argue that the kind of training you undertake for Muay Thai is one of the most effective and grueling around. Of course, the intensity of the training varies depending on whether you are training for fun or competitively fight training. I have experienced both and during that time, I was undoubtedly in the best shape of my life.

Ultimately, this photo represents one of my favourite and certainly defining moments in my relatively short Muay Thai career:

This is from my second and last C-rules Muay Thai fight at Airth Castle, Scotland in Sep. 2005. I won on a points decision and was truly elated! On the rare occasion that I watch the DVD of the fight, I still feel like I could have done more, maybe even gone for a KO but you know, hindsight's a wonderful thing.

In future posts I'll go into more detail about what Muay Thai training comprises and what you can expect if you go along to a training session :)